Shimane Sake Tasting Event Oct, 09’

 

Just around these giant sake containers I entered into another of Japan’s prefectures.  Shimane prefecture to be exact, a place with a long history of culture, great sake, and home of the portentous looking Japanese Black Pine and the Whooper Swan. 



Here, there were over 17 breweries  exhibiting a variety of different sake, each with its own unique flavor characteristics.  I was not disappointed at all over any of the choices that were offered.



This event, which was organized by Etchan, of TokyoFoodcast who did an excellent job of explaining about the event and the sake, was glowing with joy over the anticipation of this sake event.  Thank you for spreading the joy around.



Of the 17 different breweries present, there were a few that really impressed me, actually all of the sake was good, but namely was Izumofuji.  Their junmai ginjo received full marks by me and a few others too.



Izumo is located in 出雲市今市町（Izumo City, Ima Ichichyou Town),

Special Note For Japanese Readers

[ 出雲富士 純米
         

山田錦

お待たせしました！出雲富士の純米酒の入荷です。
中身もラベルもリニューアル！島根県産山田錦（70）、純粋な熊本９号酵母を使用し、米の旨味をどこまで上手に引き出せるかをとことん追求した１本！味わい深く、心地よい酸味が特徴。
飲み続けたくなる酒です。
原料米：島根県産山田錦(70)]



My other favorite, and one which I fell in love with because of its bamboo taste and texture was called  Nitamai Daiginjyo or 仁多米大吟醸 by Okuizumosyuzou.  The last time I had a sake like this was about four years ago from a buddy of mine.  In fact, he had hand-crafted a sake tokkuri and masu from a bamboo tree in his yard.  The next day he gave it to me along with a sake from Gifu and asked me to drink sake from it straight away.  I did and was immediately impressed with the aroma of freshly cut bamboo and sake.  It was a perfect combination I thought to myself.   The perfect marriage between nature, sake, and friends. 



To order it just go here

As the evening wore on, the sake started to take effect, I noticed people smiling more and coming alive.





I had to assume that there were either a few people driving their own cars, or they had a very low tolerance for alcohol.  These things you see are used for spitting. 



All of the sake representatives were so warm, friendly and generous.  They were all eager to explain their products.



Other excellent sake were Gassan.  The Kobetsu was a real hit with me and it’s also quite expensive.  It’s here.  In fact, I do plan to order this bottle very soon.

Every good sake tasting event offers atsukan 熱燗, or warm sake





An then a little more traditional way of warming sake





What an excellent evening people were having



Blue collar and white collar workers were all present.



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On a final note, I look forward to attending more of these in the future.  I have a new found respect for Shimane sake.   Oh, let me not forget Toyo No Aki Tobinogori awesome hiyaoroshi seasonal sake for autumn! 

All of the sake were great.  I know I left out some really big names, sorry about that.